Truth Archive

Last year I had much to do with sickness and I learnt much about infection. Things which cause problems and can take lives.  (Bernard had heart surgery.) Spiritual life brings new joys, appetites, desires. But there are ways in which we can become ill and lose the love, the joy, the appetite.

If there is some infection, a part of the body is not as it should be. It is not under control of the rest of the body.  It could be something small, but it could cost a life. A root of bitterness seems a small thing. But like an infected finger, if neglected it could cost us our life. In my case, I must be very careful. Even an infected tooth could affect the heart.

A little thing. Maybe we didn’t notice it till we got to Convention, where we saw it in the light of Jesus. As well as showing us the heavenly goal and God’s Son, the light shows us ourselves.

We are told to cut off this right hand, which we love so much, if it offends.  Forgiving others is a small price to pay for forgiveness. But it is not enough to forgive most people. We may forgive all but one brother. It seems a small thing, but it could cost one’s life. Some lose a hand or foot to save natural life, which is short. So what price for eternal life?

However, we know that “He must be Lord of all or else He is not Lord at all”. I find some surprising things in my heart which I must cast out. Ps 119:2, “Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart.” Verse 58 “I entreated Thy favor with my whole heart.” Can we say that? Well, that’s God’s desire. Jesus said, “Ye are clean though not all.” Judas was the problem. If we could have seen into their hearts all would have been in order. But if hearts are in order today it doesn’t say that they’ll be in order tomorrow. Because the enemy also is sowing seeds. If I entertain the thought, “Well, I could steal that, but of course, I won’t.” If I say “I could” it might be an infection setting in. In the end I might do it!

God is a jealous god. He will not tolerate anything else taking His place in our lives. He is just like a jealous husband who will not tolerate another man. He is “Lord of all or not Lord at all”. We may have a surprise in eternity if we say “Have we not done wonderful works in Thy name?” and the Lord answers, “I never knew you”. If we were godless, there would be no surprise. We would expect to be rejected. But the surprised will be those who have said, “Lord, Lord” but have not done the will of the Father. Those who built on the rock and on the sand had both heard the Gospel. Those on the sand thought all was in order. But Satan had done his work of deceit. Black became white. Wrong became right. Lies became truth.

God is a jealous god. He wants to be the Lord of all hearts. Even little things are to be subject to His will. If we are not submitted in the little things, infection will spread.

A little leaven (yeast) rises the whole lump of dough. If we confined the rising to only one part, the unrisen part would be hard and tough. Not bread at all. If we confine the Spirit to just one corner of our hearts, the heart will be of no use to God. He wants His Spirit to go into the last corner of our hearts. Giving Him first place always.

That man seeking good pearls had sold all. There was nothing he had not invested in the “goodly pearl”.

In the case of the treasure in the field, what had the man invested? Again, everything. This heart investment that God wants is to make us His. The promise of the gospel: 100% for 100%. Our all, our 100%, is so little, yet it opens the way to 100% of the promises of God. It opens the way to all the riches in Jesus. This is the call of love, not of human reasoning.  Mary gave her best. The odor of the ointment was the odor of Christ’s sacrifice as he gave His best. The sacrifice of the ointment was according to Christ’s reasoning. It was not according to Judas’s reasoning.

Paul wrote that to some we are the “savor of death” while to others we are the “savor of Life”. Like Mary’s sacrifice, the Lord’s sacrifice “filled the house”. He was giving His best. We like to see people giving their best – for example by going in the Work.  Seeing the sacrifice of a person giving their best encourages us to give our best. But Judas didn’t see it that way. Mary’s sacrifice didn’t encourage him to give his best. Instead, it encouraged him on his way to the priests.

I have wondered if he thought he could both get the silver and be with Christ. Did he think he could compromise? Satan doesn’t tell me to give up all. He just tells me to compromise a little. Infection caught hold of Judas and it overcame him.

To have the savor of Christ requires 100% submission. It only takes a few little flies to make the ointment stink. If there is something wrong in our life there will be a smell. A small infection can grow and destroy. Even a small disagreement grows and grows.

In the world, when an inheritance is divided, sometimes one beneficiary gets more than another. It is not his fault. He did not make the bequest.  But hard feelings arise. Often they won’t go away.

When I am wrong I want to point at others. Yet what we are criticizing is often one of our own failings.

Judas could say the ointment was worth 300 pence. He could see the price, but he could not see the value.  Mary’s memorial was an investment but Judas did not see it that way. He thought it was a waste. The Devil helps us to see the price but the Lord can let us see the heavenly prize.

Aaron and Miriam went wrong. They developed a spirit of criticism. An infection which spoiled the fellowship.  When we ourselves are wrong we may try to cover up by criticizing others. That is the way of Satan in our lives.

We need to have a single, not divided, heart. Because where our treasure is, is where our heart is. The light of the body is the eye. And if the eye is single the body is full of light. If the heart and eye are not single then we have mixed motives. Luke 11: when the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness. Take heed that our light is not darkness. If the body is full of light there will be no infection. We will shine as a bright candle. I need the help of the light of God. I need that candle. I want my eye to be single. I need God’s light. How can I find the way? I need God’s help on this journey.

Like the poor widow who had only two mites, we have very little to give. She brought two mites. Although it was very little, it was divisible. One could have been given to the treasury of the Lord’s temple and the other kept for herself. According to Romans 12 that would have been a reasonable, logical, rational service. But the Lord was sitting there watching others also casting into the treasury. Some were contributing a lot. It was not what others cast in that counted. It was what they withheld. In a deeper sense, it was their hearts.

Using God’s reasoning, Jesus said, “She cast in more.” The Pharisees would have said Jesus was wrong – that others had cast in more. That would have been human reasoning. Even the best human reasoning does not produce the best result. According to human reasoning the Pharisees were right. According to God’s reasoning Jesus was right. We need the mind of Christ to see things as He does. Judas had good human reasoning when He said, “Why this waste?” May the Lord save me from my reasoning! The widow’s offering was divisible but she chose not to divide it. Even according to scripture she could have withheld part of it. But she gave it all. The Lord could not have used the retained mite for eternity. Yet we can be sure she ate the next day because God honors all who give their all.

The boy had 5 loaves and 2 fish. He could have divided them. That would have been a reasonable service,  humanly speaking. Two loaves for me. Three for Jesus. One fish each. Very reasonable! Perhaps that boy had been sitting close to Jesus there on the grass, but he was also close in a deeper sense. He gave it all to Jesus. Not thinking that he would receive his own, and more, back again.

When the 5,000 ate that sacrificed bread, each tasted the same flavor.  The fish likewise. Each tasted the flavor of sacrifice. All in that crowd had been “foolish” enough to sit down to eat when there was no food to be seen. There is not enough in all the world to satisfy one man, but there is enough in one man to satisfy all the world. All the world, had they been there, could have eaten bread that day.

A satisfied man is one who will not change his place for any other. He is satisfied with his place near the Lord, despite it seeming foolish to sit to eat where there was no food.

Romans 12: Present your bodies as a living sacrifice … which is your reasonable service.” That boy’s mind had been changed to love the Lord. He did things which proved he loved Him. Only the Lord can change our minds, and then we can see that a living sacrifice is reasonable. That is, reasonable according to our new reasoning. (And yet we are still unprofitable whereas a slave was purchased as an investment. The Lord paid so much to purchase us but whatever we do we are a bad deal.

Matthew 7 tells of people who had not given themselves wholly. They had not come to the point where the seed fell into the ground, dying in secret.  Either we die or we don’t die. We either say we yield to all God’s will, or we don’t. These things are indivisible.

We cannot be 100% perfect but our desires can be right and we can be asking, “Show me what’s wrong and I’ll put it out of my life be it big or small. Help me put it out so that I can have a single eye and be a person with one heart – wholly integrated, a person in “one piece”.

Satan wants to put something into our hearts so that he can have a handle to grasp onto. In Judas’s case money was the handle.

In Acts it is nice to read that “they (the churches) continued daily with one accord and “did eat… with gladness and singleness of heart…. Praising God …. And the  Lord added to the church daily…”.

With “gladness and singleness of heart”. When we are infected we are not glad. We can even envy people who are healthy. Spiritually, we may want to criticize others but we can take this infection to the great Physician. We can go to a brother and say “I was wrong.” Then we can have singleness of heart and have a song of praise.

I think of Ananias and Sapphira. Their division of the funds was the result of division in their hearts. If there is division in the heart it brings problems. Are we wanting to give with our whole heart? Some do come to meetings and call Him Lord. But it is better not to call Him Lord if He is not Lord of all that is in our lives.

The great Physician wants to make us whole. Then we will be healthy and have an appetite for the right things and we will follow His steps. We will even be able to bear a burden in His Way.

To avoid infection, I may need to cut some things off. I may fear natural death but that is a small event compared to eternal death. We want to be with the Lord for eternity.